"The Government have clearly sent the message to Shell, ‘you can do whatever you want’. Fortunately due to protest, the refinery remains unconnected to the gas field. If, as Shell planned, gas had been flowing by now, we would potentially all be dealing with a gas leak and explosion.”
The next leg of the journey...
Having received a warm welcome from local campaigners in Macroom, we woke up this morning to the biggest saucepan of porridge I have ever seen, and yet another clear blue sky! After our 5am start the previous day (the time our ferry arrived in Cork from Swansea), we were all pretty pleased to have a bit of a lie in.
Big group photo for the press
In true activist style, we began the day with a mammoth meeting, where we were joined by the local press and a councillor who has been fighting damaging industrial ‘development’ in the area. The amount of planning and thought that goes into creating a solidarity and protest bike ride of this scale is truly impressive. From our aims and reasons for being here to who’s going to do the washing up and cook the food, everything is planned to the last detail.
We set off in the afternoon for Killarney, where we were to be welcomed by our next hosts. The ride was stunning, if a bit of a challenge... the mountainous climbs were (luckily) interspersed with swims in idyllic streams and lakes. And now we’re setting up camp in the most beautiful valley I’ve seen for a long time. Tomorrow, we’re heading into Killarney for a critical mass bike ride, then on to Tralee. Let’s just hope the weather holds out!